midland recap: session 4

Burroughs crawled his way to the yurt where he suspected Fuse was recovering, but the door was guarded by Playboy, who absently threw stones at the Brainer. Rebuffed, he returned to the Candycane, and received medical treatment from Doc Rot, who nearly tried on his violation glove. When it was returned to him, something about it seemed — off. Meanwhile, Winkle scurried out of the tavern, and Bunny followed him, only to find her van’s door ajar. Inside, she found a few critical tools absent, and telltale greasy smudges from Winkle’s gloves. Furious, she found his poorly-concealed tracks, and came upon him crouched by the abstract rock carvings northeast of the research lab. Winkle was working with some tools and Mindfood, but he whacked Bunny’s knuckles with a crowbar and disappeared.

Gutpunch, upset about the chaos caused in her tavern, persuaded Must to lend her a hand in cleaning up, so Need and Mimi were deployed to the Candycane. Need, in particular, was upset about the degradation of his position, but accepted his leader’s orders. Back at the lab, Feed the Cook made an appeal to Must to control the Family’s food supplies more fully, and took Must’s tacit agreement as full-throated approval. Burroughs approached Bunny, and in exchange for covering her living expenses, had her build him a monster pistol.

After a few days of recuperation, including the most brutally cold night yet, Must persuaded Bunny to drive her van to Fuse’s mouldfarm in an attempt to find a cure for the green disease, which seemed to be spreading among the Family. Highland was sent to fetch Gino Marie, and along the way, was accosted by Playboy and Millions, who told him that Fusetown (formerly Midland) would no longer tolerate that “rainbow fuck’s” preaching.

When Gino arrived, he insisted Must get Bunny working on a violation glove of his own. In a confrontation with Burroughs over the future of his training, he attempted to reach into Burroughs’ brain, but was repelled by the latter’s high-tech earplugs. His body shuddering, Gino soon succumbed to Stage 2 of the green disease, when fiery, jagged lines broke out in his eye sockets.

Eager to begin their journey to the mouldfarm, the crew was alarmed to find Bunny’s van wouldn’t start. She opened her mind to the machine, and found Winkle’s greasy handiwork. A tube was missing, and the engine block itself was frozen over. Rather than the gentle music she associates with mechanical things, her mind was greeted only by harsh, dissonant noise. Bunny concocted a plan to fix it, issuing orders, and everyone split up to follow her advice. Must got Feed the Cook to help her with pots, pans, and boiling water, before addressing her anxious followers in the dining hall. Mimi voiced concerns about the temperature and the futility of the tundra — Must put her foot down, though, and for the time being, quelled dissent. Burroughs, briefly lost in the snow, found his way to Fuse’s yurt, and inside, discovered some of the metal scraps that Winkle had stolen. He then made his way to the Candycane in search of Winkle, and, fed up with the Midland folks’ shit, levelled his new magnum at Playboy and Scab, in turn. Failing to convince Playboy to join him at the lab, Burroughs blew his chest open with a couple of slugs. Further gunfire ensued — Fleece, a Family member, was caught in the crossfire, and Millions, one of Fuse’s guys, took a bullet to the neck — and Burroughs escaped with the engine tube, Gutpunch’s furious curses following him out into the cold.